On which I write about the books I read, science, science fiction, fantasy, and anything else that I want to. Currently trying to read and comment upon every novel that has won the Hugo and International Fantasy awards.

Pages

Monday, March 25, 2013

Musical Monday - The Prisoner Opening Theme

The next Musical Monday selection based upon my list of the Top Ten Science Fiction Television Shows is the opening theme to the 1960s classic of dystopian paranoia The Prisoner. The show itself depicts a surreal Orwellian nightmare, as an unnamed secret agent who has resigned is taken captive and transported to a strange resort like prison where he is interrogated in bizarre ways for the "information", although he isn't really told what the "information" his captors are looking for actually is.

This opening credit sequence sets up the rest of the show pretty well on its won, without further detail needed within the show itself. Like most British shows, it had a relatively short run - only seventeen episodes - but as a result there is almost no flab in the episodes. Through the episodes, the prisoner, dubbed Number Six by his captors, is subjected to questioning under the direction of Number Two, schemes to try to escape, and generally tries to maneuver his way through the Kafkaesque world that he has found himself living in.

The first half of the opening theme song is definitely a creature of the 1960s spy show genre and an era in which one could get away with driving automobiles that looked like rolling death traps. But the second half transforms the show into something more than the standard issue British spy show, into the insane psychedelic triumph of countercultural science fiction.

2 comments:

My brother Greg and I are both PRISONER freaks. At one time or another I have viewed all the episodes. Greg has the entire PRISONER series on DVD. I have about half the episodes. My favorite is HAMMER INTO ANVIL where Number Six breaks Number Two, and gets him to turn himself in to Number One as a unit which must be replaced.

All writing that appears on this blog is copyrighted to Aaron Pound and may not be reproduced without permission. Any elements that appear that are not copyrighted to me are used for criticism or commentary pursuant to the provisions of 17 U.S.C. § 170.